


Worst Fear

by silencedancer



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Gen, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-29
Updated: 2006-08-29
Packaged: 2017-10-07 03:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silencedancer/pseuds/silencedancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tom Riddle and his boggart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worst Fear

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fanfiction was independently created of what JKR said what was Voldemort's boggart, however it matches what she had said before. May not be totally canon as it was written before the last book was released.

_I fear_

Tom Riddle stared at the words he had written down on the parchment and felt a sudden urge to toss it away and never look at those two words again. But it was for an assignment and he never left an assignment undone. Cursing under his breath at the Defense against the Dark Arts professor, he looked again at the parchment.

After a minute or two of thinking, Tom picked up his feather quill once again and finished the sentence.

_I fear death the most._

\----

My Fears and the Possible Manifestation of Them by a Boggart  
By Tom M Riddle

A boggart is a magical creature that is known to take on the form of what a person fears the most. This is why no one has seen what a boggart actually looks like. However there is a way to counter the boggart's illusion. If one thinks of a way to make their worst fear amusing, one can cast the spell riddikulus, turning the illusion into an amusing form which would hopefully cause laughter in the caster. This would create an effective defense against the creature.

So, in order to prepare for an encounter with a boggart, a wizard or witch must first acknowledge what is their worst fear. Once they acknowledge this fear, then they may put their mind and imagination to the task of creating a picture in their mind of what they wish to transform the frightening image into that would incite laughter in themselves.

As in regard to myself, I fear death the most. However, this fear is a very specific fear for it is fear of my own death and no other's. What I especially fear is dying before I have made any sort of mark on the world. I do not want to die an unknown, killed too early by circumstances under my control.

With a fear such as mine, it is difficult to make it humorous for the manifestation that is most likely to occur would be the illusion of my own dead body. To make this image humorous to me, the image I would have to use in conjunction with the spell would have to transform the dead body into something more amusing to me . . . .

\----

Tom purposely omitted the real image he would project onto a boggart and instead he wrote down something that sounded that it would be accepted by the professor.

It wasn't that he didn't know what he would hold in his mind.

It was because it wasn't…appropriate.

\----

An older and slightly changed Tom Riddle wandered a dark, decrepit house that had been abandoned for years. It was in an isolated spot, far away from the nearest village and that was exactly the way he wanted it. The ambitious dark wizard had a taste for solitude and he needed a place to do his magical experiments, making this the perfect place for him.

As he explored the rundown building, Tom heard a rattling in a desk drawer as he passed by it. His eyes quickly darted to the source of the noise and as he stood there with his wand out, the drawer shook again. Narrowing his eyes further, he approached the drawer slowly; his wand ready for any attack that may come.

With one swift move, Tom pulled out the drawer only to discover a mouse inside. He breathed a sigh of relief, but when he turned around he was greeted by the sight of his dead body on the ground.

Although shocked by the dead body for a few seconds, Tom quickly realized that this was a boggart's doing and cast riddikulus soon after. The dead body changed into a different body—that of Albus Dumbledore's. Tom's laughter rang loud and cold throughout the entire house, echoing down the hallways.


End file.
